Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco is likely to be
investigated for fraud in the UK over allegations it paid bribes,
including to former Trade minister Moses Wetang’ula, in order to do
business across East Africa.
The
exposé by the BBC programme, Panorama, claims BAT, which has its East
African regional operations base in Nairobi, requested the purchase of a
business class air ticket for Mr Wetang’ula in July 2012.
The Bungoma senator was Trade minister at the time.
The
lid on the graft allegations was opened when a whistle-blower, Mr Paul
Hopkins, shared hundreds of the company’s secret documents.
They showed that the bribes ranged from as little as Sh4,000 to a maximum of Sh2 million.
According
to the report broadcast on Monday night, the company gave Mr Wetang’ula
a return air ticket to London. He was to be “hosted at Globe House”,
which is BAT’s UK headquarters and all transactions were to be paperless
and there were to be “no receipts, if any, in his name”, said the
30-minute Panorama exposé.
SHOCKED AND UPSET
When
Panorama asked Mr Wetang’ula about the email, he said he was “shocked”
and “upset” and would take legal action against anybody circulating
“such a crude rumour” against him.
He said: “I did not receive any ticket or any money… I never had dealings with BAT.”
Efforts to reach Senator Wetang’ula were futile as he did not respond to calls or texts from the Daily Nation.
The
BBC exposé also said BAT employees bribed civil servants and
politicians in Rwanda, Uganda and the Comoros Islands. They are also
said to have bribed employees of a rival company in Africa.
Much of the evidence to support the BBC’s allegations came from former employees.
BAT is the biggest tobacco company in Africa, and the fifth largest in the UK.
Mr
Hopkins, who served in the Irish Special Forces before working for BAT,
claims he broke the law for the tobacco firm. “I was a commercial
hitman,” he said.
Commenting on the
practice of bribery, Mr Hopkins, who worked for BAT in Kenya for 13
years, said: “It was explained to me in Africa that’s the cost of doing
business.”
But in an email to Nation,
the head of government affairs at BAT Kenya, Ms Connie Anyika, said the
allegations were from “former employees with a clear vendetta against
us, whose employment was terminated in acrimonious circumstances and who
present a completely false picture of the way BAT does business.”
She
added: “Any proven transgression results in disciplinary action and may
lead to dismissal. We will not tolerate corruption in our business, no
matter where it takes place.”
Mr Hopkins plans to meet with Britain’s Serious Fraud Office investigators this week.
The SFO said it was aware of the allegations and was investigating but would not comment further.
UGANDA BAT BRIBERY SCANDAL
Further
allegations of bribery in the programme came from former BAT lobbyist
Solomon Muyita who was fired by BAT in Uganda in 2013 after he was
accused of giving cash gifts to 50 people, including seven MPs.
He said he was following company orders and is suing BAT for wrongful dismissal. The company says Mr Muyita is lying.
Harpal
Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “For any company to
pay for access to government and officials to influence legislation is
bad enough. But if that company is doing it so that it can more easily
sell deadly products, it’s outrageous.”
But
BAT says it conducts its business with honesty, integrity and
transparency, and has strict anti-bribery rules. It adds that it is
committed to the “highest standards of corporate conduct and
transparency” and its anti-bribery rules are “strictly enforced”.
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